New Industries - An Important Contribution to the Regional Economy

The first foundation stone of what in three years' time will become Volkswagen's new plant for the production of internal combustion engines in Kaluga was laid on December 11. The event was attended by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Kaluga Region Governor Anatoly Artamonov, and a board member of Volkswagen AG responsible for production, Dr. Michael Macht.

As of 2015 this plant will be providing Russian-made engines for the Volkswagen car factory in Kaluga and for a contract manufacturing facility in Nizhny Novgorod.

The new plant will take up an area of ​​30,000 square meters in the industrial park Grabtsevo next to the Volkswagen car plant in Kaluga. The expected annual production capacity is 150,000 engines. The first engine is to be assembled at the beginning of 2015.

Volkswagen is the largest foreign investor into the Russian automotive market. Since 2006 the concern has invested nearly a billion euros into local production and the development of new models for Russia. Over three years to come the company intends to invest in Russia another 840 million euros. About 250 million of this amount will be used to build the new internal combustion engines plant.

The Russian prime minister congratulated the region's governor upon the launch of another major investment project in the region. Dmitry Medvedev spoke highly of the efforts by the governor and the regional authorities to attract funding. The new industrial facility spells new jobs and a modern corporate culture, he said.

Governor Anatoly Artamonov reviewed the experience of creating industrial parks in the region. With their emergence "investors have their problems resolved more easily," he stated. Investments have already created 22,000 new jobs and tripled the region's budget per resident. This year, the total investment in the economy of the region will reach about 2 billion euros.